Get That Shot!

What do you do when you get a gig to help a company whose entire business revolves around solar energy? You get up insanely early and get the sunrise beside their brand of course!

Part of any photo or video project is the journey it takes to get your shots. This one was a wild turnaround that included 3 flights, 5 hours of sleep and 2 time zones all in 24 hours.

I had it all planned out for my 9:30 p.m. arrival in Denver. Get my car, get just outside the city for some killer long exposure night skyline shots then get to bed for my 6 a.m. call time at Sunrun. Storms in southern Colorado scratched that for me and we had a 35 minute delay when we landed waiting for the plane at our gate to get new instructions to fly around what we flew through. Add in waiting for baggage, waiting for the rental car shuttle and the drive to Westminster and I had to scratch the night shots and get straight to bed when I got my hotel room around midnight.

Got up for the shot at 5, got ready and was on site before sunrise for the final planning. I busted out my Photo Pills app when I got on site to use augmented reality and see exactly when the sun would appear at the level I wanted to shoot it on the horizon. I found a Sunrun truck near the spot, set up my sticks, framed the shot and boom! Magic!

The biggest takeaway for me in getting the perfect shot for this brand was visualizing what I wanted to get, trusting my tools and then executing. I didn't get to do a location scout on this one so giving myself extra time before sunrise and relying on Photo Pills to help me find the best spot made all the difference.